fork seals

[grog]

maybe everyone knows this already. told to me by suspension bloke. everytime you wash your bike, when finished either rag with fork oil around legs into seals or simply some wd40. detergent takes away lube on legs, wrecks seals in no time.

[gsxbarmy]

Personally I doubt the wisdom of that grog - have never done it on any of my bikes and never ever had an issue with the seals going. My concern with wiping WD40 or any sort of oil on the fork leg is that it will leave a residue and being an oil, dust and muck will stick to it and get down behind the seal so wrecking it more!

The movement of the fork seal actually lubricates the fork leg anyway by use, as when you change fork seals, a top tip is to use some very fine wet and dry to rub the fork leg down where the seal moves across as the seal leaves a very fine layer of rubber over the fork leg - washing the bike will not remove this layer of rubber that builds up.

Instead what I do is wipe around my fork leg after every ride to remove any dust, flies or whatever may have attached itself to it. But I would never wipe any oil or WD40 around it at all, to me that makes absolutely no sense at all, sorry, all you are doing IMO is making a magnet for dirt and muck to stick to the leg.

[grog]

Barmy, im just telling what i was told. im no expert. guy who did my forks adv. me to aiways wipe over after a wash. especially if using truck wash.he did a great job on my stuff so i trust his advice. hes the ktm off road guru for the factory, must know something. another suspension shop sad same and last night searching a shop in sydney, to reco to sweaty. their advice page said same. ive been doing for two years, no crud builds up. its all about dust seal catching crap before it gets to seal. one shop even recos fitting a foam/oil soaked strip under dust seal. http://www.shocktreatment.com.au/forksealmaint.html

[Andre]

I like the oil (I use silikone-oil i.e. spray) on the stanchions. My reasoning is that it collects and suspends the dirt and the dust seal moves it up the stanchion out of the way where it stays till I wipe it away. I apply the oil also in between washes.